The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-06-08
AN OIL KING.
Facts About Rockefeller, the Standard
Oil Companys President.

several mlllOnS more, getS OUT Oh an ele-
waited railroad train at Rector street and
walks to his Office at No. 26 Broadway.
He is of medium height and stout build.
He is slightly stopped. His brown hair is
fast turning to dull gray. His eyes are
| brown and are oyerhung by heavy brows.
He wears q short, dark beard and an
uncared-for moustache. A stern, but yet
| kindly face, scanned with small wrinkles, as
| if by concentrated thought
| This is John D. Rockefeller, the famous oil
king and the President of the Standard Oil
| Company, one of the wealthiest and most
| powerful corporations on earth.
| Mr.. Rockefelier's clothes might have been
| purchased at a secondhand store. They
| seem to have been thrown on carelessly, and
the battered silk hat has needed brushing
| for long time. Scores of clerks in his EN-
| ploy are dressed dozen times more expen.
| sively than the oil king.
| Mr.. Rockefeller might be taken for the
owner of small grocery store, and that is
what he was not so many years ago. Now
he has palatial home in this city filled to
the doors with splendid paintings and rare
works of art and a summer residence at
| Greenwich, Conn, which ranks among the
| finest along the Sound.
| John D. Rockefeller is about so years of
age He was a New England boy, and does
not hide the fact that, in company with his
| brother William, he began life by selling
newspapers in the streets of New Bedford,
| Mass. He possessed partial education ac-
quired at the common schools, and was
| bright and shrewd.
| When yet young man Mr.. Rockefeller,
like so many other New England boys, left
home for the West He did not get very far
| West, however, as he settled at Cleveland
| O., and became a clerk in a grocery. In a
few years young Rockefeller owned the gro
Gerry. He continued the business until about
| 1870, when his first big boost into the ranks
| of the millionaireS took place.
AT that time Samuel j. Andrews, who
had been day laborer in Cleveland after
years of patient experimenting and invest
| igation, invented several new processes for
refining crude oil He went to John D.
! Rockefeller and showed him what he had
| The shrewd groceryman at once saw the
fortune within his grasp, and he became a
partner in the firm of Andrews & Rockefel-
Ter. That firm was the original Standard
| Oil Company, and every man connected
with it at the start has become many times
| a millionaire
| The pushing business qualities of Rookie
| Teller soon made themselves felt. 1t was
| obvious to him that control of the oil fields
| meant virtual ownership of the oil wells
| One by one the small refineries in Ohio-in
| Pennsylvania and everywhere else in fact
were absorbed by Andrew g. Rockefeller.
They were bought out, squeezed out and
| frozen out, and then the larger concerns in
| the big cities were attacked. the scheme be-
| ing. to obtain control of the petroleum trade
| of The world
In three years Rockefeller was worth
s., 600, 900, and he then let his brother Will
| liam into the business and formed the Stand
ard Oil Company Associated with them
was Peter A. Watson, then President of the
Erie Railway, and his assistance proved in
valuable in aiding the Standard to crush out
| its weaker rivals. Many of the Standards
competitors were bought out and retired
with big fortunes; those who were foolish
enough to fight the big monopoly were re-
morselessly sent to the wall.
Mr.. Rockefellers fortune kept growing
larger and larger, until, like most wealthy
Americans, he concluded to remove from
| Cleveland to New York. A year or two
ago the Standard Oil Company erected the
mammoth building Nos. IS and % Broad
way, and on the seventh floor Of that great
structure the oil king has his plainly-fur-
nished office.
No one can secure an audience with him
without first running the gauntlet of door
keeper and private secretary. The oil king
| is sharp and quick in his answers and has
no time for "reminiscences His last and
greatest scheme is said to be a plan to OBJ
tain control of the Russian oil fields and to
establish the Standard monopoly in the
Balkan peninsula
Mr.. Rockefeller has a wife and several
children, and on his removal to this city he
purchased a magnificent house at No. 4
| West Fifty-fourth street. It is said that he
paid S6O0,00O for the property, which he
purchased from Mrs. Worsham the wealthy
widow who has since married millionaire
Coils P. Huntington. The house is ex-
pensively and elegantly furnished, and is
| miracle IN the way of frescoing, paneling
| and decorations n re in,
terror is more like the house of some ORR
| entail monarch than of a plain American
citizen
Mr.. Rocketeller's hobby is paintings, and
| he has lavished hundreds of thousands of
dollars upon foreign and native artists. On
his return from recent trip to Europe he
| brought back over SO, 600 worth of paint
ings with him. His art gallery is one of the
finest in America, but only his personal
friends have an opportunity of gazing at
| the rare art treasures.
| Mr.. Rockefeller is devoted Christian and
a member of the Baptist faith He taught
a large Sunday school class in Cleveland for
| years, and has given a great deal of money
| to various religious institutions. Among
his donations was $25, 900 to the University
| of Rochester, in this State
| MIR. Rockefeller enjoys a drive behind
| fast team, and he has several trotters with
| low records in his stables He frequently
| drives out on the road, and likes to handle
the ribbons without the aid of coachman
II is said that Mr.. Rockefeller knows
every verse in the Bible by heart, and he
delights in theological discussion with his
intimate friends. His home life is quiet and
sedate, and he is seldom seen at the opera or
| in fashionable circles.
| AT his elegant summer residence in Green
witch the Rockefeller family spend most of
the warm season, the Oil King going there
every night and returning to the city in the
morning. 1t is abundantly supplied with
LIGHTHOUSES in which the choicest flowers are
| raised. Hundreds of fruit trees lend CRATE
full shade to the ground, and short distance
away the blue waters of the sound can be
seen gistening in the sunlight. Among his
neighbors Mr. Rockefeller is very popular,
and his private charities are said to be many
and large.
| Such is the man who is the head of Ameri-
cas- greatest monopoly, and whose millions
are rolling up so rapidly that he himself ac-
knowledees that he cannot tell within
So,OOO,O0O how much he is worth to-day